Martial Arts Professional Magazine

[Editor’s note: This rotating column will introduce readers to new authors and consultants who will expand your thinking to drive your success. This column is an except from Jim Rohn’s book, Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness.]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be motivated to achieve by such a lofty goal as benevolence? I must confess, however, that in the early years of my struggle to succeed, my motivation was much more down-to-earth. My reason for succeeding was more basic. In fact, it fell into the category of what I like to call “nitty-gritty reasons.” A nitty-gritty reason is the kind that any of us can have at any time, on any day – and it can cause our lives to change. Let me tell you what happened to me…

I was lounging at home one day, when I heard a knock at the door. It was a timid, hesitant knock. When I opened the door I saw a pair of big brown eyes staring at me. There stood a frail, little girl of about ten. She told me, with all the courage and determination her little heart could muster, that she was selling Girl Scout cookies. It was a masterful presentation – several flavors, a special deal and only two dollars per box. How could anyone refuse? Finally, with a big smile and ever so politely, she asked me to buy. I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to!

Except for one thing. I didn’t have two dollars! Boy, was I embarrassed! Here I was – a father, had been to college and was gainfully employed – and, yet, I didn’t have two dollars to my name.

Naturally, I couldn’t tell the little girl with the big brown eyes, so I did the next best thing. I lied to her. I said, “Thanks, but I’ve already bought Girl Scout cookies this year; and I still have plenty stacked in the house.”Now that simply wasn’t true, but it was the only thing I could think of to get me off the hook, and it did. The little girl said, “That’s okay, sir. Thank you very much.” She turned around and went on her way.

I stared after her for what seemed like a very long time. Finally, I closed the door behind me and, leaning my back to it, cried, “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’ve had it with being broke, and I’ve had it with lying. I’ll never be embarrassed again by not having any money in my pocket.” That day I promised myself to earn enough to have several hundred dollars always in my pocket at all times.

This is what I mean by a nitty-gritty reason. It may not win me any prize for greatness, but it was enough to have a permanent effect on the rest of my life.

My Girl-Scout-cookie story does have a happy ending. Several years later, as I was walking from my bank where I had just made a hefty deposit, I saw two little girls who were selling candy for some girls’ organization. One of them approached me and asked, “Mister, would you like to buy some candy?”

“I probably would,” I said playfully.

“What kind of candy do you have?”

“It’s almond roca.”

“Almond roca. That’s my favorite.

How much is it?” “It’s only two dollars.”

Two dollars. It couldn’t be! I was excited.

“How many boxes do you have?”

“I have five.

”Looking at her friend, I said,

“How many boxes do you have left?”

“I have four.”

“That’s nine. Okay, I’ll take them all.

”At this, both girls’ mouths fell open as they exclaimed in unison, “Really?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll pass them around to some of my friends.”

Excitedly, they scurried to stack all the boxes together. I reached into my pocket and gave them eighteen dollars. As I was about to leave, the boxes tucked under my arm, one of the girls said, “Mister, you’re really something!” How about that! Can you imagine spending only eighteen dollars and have someone look you in the face and say, “You’re really something!

”Now you know why I always carry a few hundred dollars on me. I’m not about to miss opportunities like that ever again.

To think it all resulted from my own embarrassment, that when properly channeled, acted as a powerful motivator to help me achieve.

How about you? What nitty-gritty reasons do you have waiting to challenge and provoke you into change for the better? Look for them; they are there. It can sometimes be as simple as a brown-eyed girl selling Girl Scout cookies.